Top (1968) / Bottom (2007)
water. without it life cannot continue. have you ever been thirsty?
we have been in a drought for a couple of years now. I haven't thought much about it until recently. I have taken care to go easy on water consumption, short showers, efficient toilets, no lawn watering, etc. however in the last week, we have just been informed that our water supply is projected to have only 4 months left of water. our lakes will actually be dried up! the same lakes that I used to go boating and water skiing on. the rest of the Southeast United States are also in drought although I'm not sure of their particular standings.
4 months left of water! so what exactly does that mean? we need rain badly. unfortunately weather patterns over the years are showing that water fall is dwindling. (maybe global warming? I don't know.) it is cyclical, however, and we will have rain again when the rainy season returns but as for now we are looking at possibly a time where we will not even have enough water for showers, etc. maybe even drinking water will be gone temporarily.
I can always go to the grocery store and buy bottled water, but hydration is not the only thing I'm worried about. our businesses, power plants, agriculture, and food industry cannot perform without water. I am looking at potential chaos in my own back yard and it isn't that far off. there are 6 million people in Atlanta and it's surrounding suburbs. this could cause a total infrastructure meltdown like I have never seen in my lifetime.
I may be overreacting, and we may pull through this year with some crafty engineering and some extreme water conservation, but what about next year? the year after? it will continue to get worse.
please read the following facts:
- - few of us realise how much water it takes to get us through the day. on average, we drink no more than five litres. even after washing and flushing the toilet, we usually consume no more than 150 litres. but when we add in the water needed to grow what we eat and drink, the numbers soar.
- - it takes between 2,000 and 5,000 litres of water to grow one kilo of rice, over 1,000 litres for a kilo of wheat, between 2,000 and 11,000 litres to grow the feed for enough cow to make a quarter-pound hamburger, and between 2,000 and 4,000 litres for that cow to fill its udders with a litre of milk.
- - every teaspoonful of sugar requires 50 cups of water, and every cup of coffee 140 litres. Hoekstra calculates that his fellow Netherlanders require the virtual-water equivalent of 4% of the flow of the Rhine to produce the coffee they drink in a year. to feed and clothe a typical meat-eating Westerner for a year takes around 1,500 cubic metres – rather more than half the contents of an Olympic-size swimming pool.
why is all of this happening?! overpopulation! the world population is now growing exponentially and we don't have the resources to support it. now, I realize this is nothing new and we have seen this coming, but for me this is the first time I have had the honor of it hitting home. I personally will not have water.
and for you that live outside of Atlanta, keep in mind, you're next. it is projected that in 2025 (this is only 17 years from now), 1 in 3 people will not have enough water to survive on this planet. I am guessing that could be an over-projection. it might be 2015 or earlier. the wars of the future will be fought over water . . .
what will you do?
